Shaw, W.J.

Organometallics 2020, 39, 1532-1544, 10.1021/acs.organomet.9b00843

The protein scaffold around the active site of enzymes is known to influence catalytic activity, but specific scaffold features responsible for favorable influences are often not known. This study focuses on using an artificial metalloenzyme to probe one specific feature of the scaffold, the position of a positive charge in the outer coordination sphere around the active site. Previous work showed that a small molecular complex, [Rh(PEt2NglycinePEt2)2]−, immobilized covalently within a protein scaffold was activated for CO2 hydrogenation. Here, using an iterative design where the effect of arginine, histidine, or lysine residues placed in the outer coordination sphere of the catalytic active site were evaluated, we tested the hypothesis that positively charged groups facilitate CO2 hydrogenation with seven unique constructs. Single-, double-, and triple-point mutations were introduced to directly compare catalytic activity, as monitored by turnover frequencies (TOFs) measured in real time with 1H NMR spectroscopy, and evaluate related structural and electronic properties. Two of the seven constructs showed a 2- and 3-fold increase relative to the wild type, with overall rates ranging from 0.2 to 0.7 h–1, and a crystal structure of the fastest of these shows the positive charge positioned next to the active site. A crystal structure of the arginine-containing complex shows that the arginines are positioned near the metal. Molecular dynamics (MD) studies also suggest that the positive charge is oriented next to the active site in the two constructs with faster rates but not in the others and that the positive charge near the active site holds the CO2 near the metal, all consistent with a positive charge appropriately positioned in the scaffold benefiting catalysis. The MD studies also suggest that changes in the water distribution around the active site may contribute to catalytic activity, while modest structural changes and movement of the complex within the scaffold do not.

Ebright, R.H.; Gunasekeram, A.

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 1990, 87, 2882-2886, 10.1073/pnas.87.8.2882

Escherichia coli catabolite gene activator protein (CAP) is a helix-turn-helix motif sequence-specific DNA binding protein [de Crombrugghe, B., Busby, S. & Buc, H. (1984) Science 224, 831-838; and Pabo, C. & Sauer, R. (1984) Annu. Rev. Biochem. 53, 293-321]. In this work, CAP has been converted into a site-specific DNA cleavage agent by incorporation of the chelator 1,10-phenanthroline at amino acid 10 of the helix-turn-helix motif. [(N-Acetyl-5-amino-1,10-phenanthroline)-Cys178]CAP binds to a 22-base-pair DNA recognition site with Kobs = 1 x 10(8) M-1. In the presence of Cu(II) and reducing agent, [(N-acetyl-5-amino-1,10-phenanthroline)-Cys178]CAP cleaves DNA at four adjacent nucleotides on each DNA strand within the DNA recognition site. The DNA cleavage reaction has been demonstrated using 40-base-pair and 7164-base-pair DNA substrates. The DNA cleavage reaction is not inhibited by dam methylation of the DNA substrate. Such semisynthetic site-specific DNA cleavage agents have potential applications in chromosome mapping, cloning, and sequencing.

Song, W.J.

J. Inorg. Biochem. 2021, 223, 111552, 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2021.111552

A large fraction of metalloenzymes harbors multiple metal-centers that are electronically and/or functionally arranged within their proteinaceous environments. To explore the orchestration of inorganic and biochemical components and to develop bioinorganic catalysts and materials, we have described selected examples of artificial metalloproteins having multiple metallocofactors that were grouped depending on their initial protein scaffolds, the nature of introduced inorganic moieties, and the method used to propagate the number of metal ions within a protein. They demonstrated that diverse inorganic moieties can be selectively grafted and modulated in protein environments, providing a retrosynthetic bottom-up approach in the design of versatile and proficient biocatalysts and biomimetic model systems to explore fundamental questions in bioinorganic chemistry.

Song, W.J.; Tezcan, F.A.

J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 16772-16779, 10.1021/jacs.7b08981

We describe the design and evolution of catalytic hydrolase activity on a supramolecular protein scaffold, Zn4:C96RIDC14, which was constructed from cytochrome cb562 building blocks via a metal-templating strategy. Previously, we reported that Zn4:C96RIDC14 could be tailored with tripodal (His/His/Glu), unsaturated Zn coordination motifs in its interfaces to generate a variant termed Zn8:A104AB34, which in turn displayed catalytic activity for the hydrolysis of activated esters and β-lactam antibiotics. Zn8:A104AB34 was subsequently subjected to directed evolution via an in vivo selection strategy, leading to a variant Zn8:A104/G57AB34 which displayed enzyme-like Michaelis–Menten behavior for ampicillin hydrolysis. A criterion for the evolutionary utility or designability of a new protein structure is its ability to accommodate different active sites. With this in mind, we examined whether Zn4:C96RIDC14 could be tailored with alternative Zn coordination sites that could similarly display evolvable catalytic activities. We report here a detailed structural and functional characterization of new variant Zn8:AB54, which houses similar, unsaturated Zn coordination sites to those in Zn8:A104/G57AB34, but in completely different microenvironments. Zn8:AB54 displays Michaelis–Menten behavior for ampicillin hydrolysis without any optimization. Yet, the subsequent directed evolution of Zn8:AB54 revealed limited catalytic improvement, which we ascribed to the local protein rigidity surrounding the Zn centers and the lack of evolvable loop structures nearby. The relaxation of local rigidity via the elimination of adjacent disulfide linkages led to a considerable structural transformation with a concomitant improvement in β-lactamase activity. Our findings reaffirm previous observations that the delicate balance between protein flexibility and stability is crucial for enzyme design and evolution.

Song, W.J.

Chem. Commun. 2020, 56, 9586-9599, 10.1039/d0cc03137b

By combining synthetic catalysts and biochemical tools, numerous artificial metalloenzymes have been designed to exhibit high catalytic activity and selectivity in diverse chemical transformations. Out of the nearly infinite number of discovered or characterised proteins, however, only a handful of proteins have been employed as scaffolds for artificial metalloenzymes, implying that specific proteins are preferred owing to their native structural, functional, or biochemical properties. In the present review, we extract and group the biochemical and structural properties of proteins that are advantageous in the design of artificial metalloenzymes; protein stability, pre-existing metal centre, native binding affinity for small molecules, confined and empty space, well-defined secondary structure, and native cellular location. The desirable properties highlight proteins as the key players in the design of metal-dependent biocatalysts. We also propose rarely considered, yet promising, proteins that could be versatile and unique scaffolds for novel metalloenzymes.

Song, W.J.

Chem. Sci. 2021, 12, 5091-5101, 10.1039/d0sc06823c

Directed evolution has provided us with great opportunities and prospects in the synthesis of tailor-made proteins. It, however, often requires at least mid to high throughput screening, necessitating more effective strategies for laboratory evolution. We herein demonstrate that protein symmetry can be a versatile criterion for searching for promising hotspots for the directed evolution of de novo oligomeric enzymes. The randomization of symmetry-related residues located at the rotational axes of artificial metallo-β-lactamase yields drastic effects on catalytic activities, whereas that of non-symmetry-related, yet, proximal residues to the active site results in negligible perturbations. Structural and biochemical analysis of the positive hits indicates that seemingly trivial mutations at symmetry-related spots yield significant alterations in overall structures, metal-coordination geometry, and chemical environments of active sites. Our work implicates that numerous artificially designed and natural oligomeric proteins might have evolutionary advantages of propagating beneficial mutations using their global symmetry.